By close of business Wednesday, diversity, equity and inclusion offices within the federal government will be shut down. And all federal employees assigned to these DEI offices will have their email access suspended and be placed on paid leave. These employees’ status will remain until such time as the Trump administration makes decisions regarding layoffs and alternative placements.

President Trump signed an executive order on Monday focused on, “Ending Radical and Wasteful Government DEI Programs and Referencing.” Among other things, the order mandates:

“The Director of the Office of Management and Budget (OMB), assisted by the Attorney General and the Director of the Office of Personnel Management (OPM), shall coordinate the termination of all discriminatory programs, including illegal DEI and ‘diversity, equity, inclusion, and accessibility’ (DEIA) mandates, policies, programs, preferences, and activities in the Federal Government, under whatever name they appear.”

Following this order, the OPM director issued a memorandum to all government heads and acting heads with guidance and instructions on the steps they need to take to shut down DEI offices, put employees on paid leave and suspend email access for these employees.

One of the key points of communication that department heads will have with DEI employees is to tell them that these actions are not disciplinary. They may not be intended as disciplinary but by suspending access to email accounts, it will certainly feel that way.

Federal DEI employees will lose email access at 5 p.m. EST on Wednesday (Jan. 22). After these employees are told that all DEI offices will shut down immediately, they will be told that they will be placed on paid administrative leave and that their email access is suspended.

Whatever else happens on Wednesday to cause stress and trauma, suspending email access for employees while telling them that the administrative leave is not a disciplinary action is bound to cause problems—problems mentally as these employees try to process why their email access is being suspended if they aren’t being fired. It’s a confusing message at best.

We (executives, supervisors, employers, etc.) suspend email access for employees who have been fired. We suspend email access as a disciplinary measure during investigations where the employee is suspected of wrongdoing. We don’t suspend email access and tell employees that they did nothing wrong because we know employees rely on their email for many things and may need to access it for a valid and ordinary reason.

By Wednesday, January 22, 2025, at 5 p.m. EST—Government Heads Must:

1. Distribute a department or agency-wide notice informing everyone that all DEI offices are closing.
2. Ask employees to disclose anything they know about anyone making attempts, or seeking, to disguise DEI programs by using “coded or imprecise language.”
3. Notify all DEI employees that they will be placed on paid administrative leave effective immediately.
4. Remove all outward-facing media (digital, electronic and in print) that promotes DEI programs and services.
5. Cancel all trainings, events, etc. connected to DEI.
6. Terminate all DEI contractors.

By Thursday, January 23, 2025, at 12 p.m. EST—Government Heads Must:

1. Update OPM on all steps taken the prior day (Wednesday above) to effectively shut down DEI offices.
2. Provide OPM with a listing of all DEI offices and the names of all employees within those offices.
3. Provide a complete listing of all DEI contracts to OPM.
4. Provide assurances for how the department or agency will effectively comply with President Trump’s executive order.

By Friday, January 31, 2025, by 5 p.m. EST—Government Heads Must:

1. Provide OPM a written reduction-in-force (layoff) action plan regarding DEI employees.
2. Provide descriptions for all contracts or personnel positions that were “changed since November 5, 2024, to obscure their connection to” DEI programs.

After the department or agency head explains to employees that all DEI offices will be closed, OPM informs them to communicate directly with DEI employees and explain:

1. Employees will be immediately placed on paid administrative leave.
2. These actions are not disciplinary.
3. Employees will continue to receive full salary and benefits during the entire time on administrative leave.
4. Employees are not required or expected to perform any work tasks while on leave.
5. Employees are not required or expected to come into the offices.
6. Employee email access will be suspended.
7. Employees need to provide updated contact information.
8. Employees will receive updates when available.

Wednesday will likely be very challenging for many executives, supervisors and managers as they have dual duty with managing what’s sure to be a chaotic change process. These heads, chiefs and managers will need to deal with their own lack of understanding and emotions as well as their employees’ lack of understanding and emotions.

The DEI employees will struggle, but they won’t be the only ones. Managers will be relaying information that they, themselves, are also just learning. Whenever a manager, at any level, is put in a position to give difficult news to employees—news about drastic changes in operations, budgets or staffing, etc.—it’s best to do it after the manager has had time to process it.

Also, based on the executive order and the OPM guidance memo, there aren’t any answers for the many questions that DEI—and most other—employees will surely have.

While the DEI employees will be on paid administrative leave, there are no answers for how long this leave will last or whether they will indeed have a job once the dust settles. There are no answers for the other government employees who will watch this treatment of the DEI employees and surely begin to wonder if or when they will be subjected to same type of treatment.

President Trump signed the executive order Monday. OPM sent out the guidance memo Tuesday. And current employees will lose access to their email accounts and be sent home on paid administrative leave Wednesday.

When DEI employees leave their jobs and offices at the end of the day, they will know that the Trump Administration has requested that the department and agency heads submit reduction-in-force (layoff) plans no later than Jan. 31.

Layoff plans for whom? That’s just one thing that what will linger with these employees after Wednesday.

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